Waiting
by Pricelesspistola
Summary: Shepard turned Thane away so she could be with Garrus, but when Garrus changes his mind, she regrets her decision and returns to Thane. Garrus begins rethink his own choice.
1. Chapter 1

"I've been thinking about you."

Thane hoped Shepard wouldn't say that, but there it was, he laced his fingers together on the table top and looked at her. The commander looked radiant, creamy, fair skin and haunting blue eyes, eyes that rivalled those of his lost Irikah. He would never forget those eyes.

"And I you. Though I feel I may not be foremost in your mind, Shepard." Straight to the point, just as he had planned, difficult as it had been. He wanted to confess himself to her, tell her that he wanted to pull her close and run his fingers through her hair, feel the foreign softness of it and just lay with her for hours.

Her eyes shifted from his, he knew it all along. The way she looked at the other man, the way she always brought both Garrus and himself on every mission. It was as if she was trying all the time to decide which one she enjoyed being around more.

"Thane, I'm so sorry. I never meant for us to get this close. I just...I didn't expect it. Everything you are caught me off guard, hell, I never had feelings for Garrus before I died. I just..." She trailed off and drummed thin fingers on the cold metal desk.

He couldn't blame her.

"I understand, my body has it's time limit. To expect you to commit to me then lose me would not be fair." She stood up. A brief encounter, but it was clear both of them needed to think, the air felt heavy, and was eerily silent. Even the ever-present blips and sounds of metal seemed to have stopped. Shepard cleared her throat uncomfortably and began to leave. Thane spoke, not turning to face her.

"If you change your mind Si...Shepard...I will be here waiting for you." His words were laced with a heavy sorrow. Shepard wasn't sure if it was because she had just turned him down or because doing so made him face his morality. It was best not to think about it.

As the weeks past, her visits to life support became more scarce. She would visit to talk about whatever mission they had been on, ask about Drell culture an other miscellaneous subjects, but the real substance from their conversation was gone. Thane couldn't help but wonder why she thought not wanting to be with him meant not speaking to him as much. He was happy just to have some sort of interaction that didn't involve killing someone. He knew she would leave then go straight to Garrus, she had done so almost systematically. He had many times considered finding a way to listen in on what she would say to him, but didn't want to risk her finding out.

/ / / / / / / / / / /

"Shepard, need me for something?" Garrus' multipitch voice was like music to her. She loved hanging on to every word the Turian spoke, always wanting to hear more. She trailed a finger across the mangled collar of his armour.

"Just wanted to come see you, I've been thinking about you a lot." She smiled coyly, watching his mandibles twitch in anticipation. She loved how he had no idea how to react.

""I've been looking more into...it." He shyly turned his head to the side.

"And...?" She asked, placing a hand lightly on his jaw and turning his head back to her, eyes studying every line.

"Can't say I'm not starting to want it more and more, Shepard." He said, voice just above a whisper. "A hero like yourself, someone who can accomplish just about anything going for someone like me. Feels...surreal." Shepard pulled back and stepped away from him, lifting and eyebrow and crossing her arms. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Garrus." She said. "I really wish you could appreciate who you are, and how much you mean to me." She gave him a pat on the shoulder and left, he watched her hips sway idly as she exited.

By the Spirits, how could this even happen? His Commanding officer of all people? Would she even had ever brought it up had he not told her about him and the recon scout? He had been watching vid after vid of human pornography, and what he saw left him awestruck. The women looked and acted nothing like Shepard, they screamed and talked almost constantly, something he definitely didn't understand. He wondered if all human females did the same thing. Looking up compatibility between Turians and humans warranted useless results. He wanted to make her feel good, show her that he was capable of doing so.

Though he was still scared. What if he couldn't perform properly? What if he hurt her? Lately his mind had been so focused on what could go wrong, he was having trouble deciding what could go right. Something his mind had been doing for a long while.


	2. Chapter 2

Shepard looked at the Turian before her, dressed in his formal uniform holding a bottle of probably the cheapest wine she had ever seen. She hadn't expected him to bring anything, and almost felt sorry for him as he desperately tried to get a handle on their situation. He really had waited until the last minute to come to her quarters. It was only about four hours until they would attempt going through the Omega 4 Relay, but she has supposed he did want to savour the moment like he had previously mentioned.

"Throw me a line here, Shepard..." He pleaded, shaking his head. She laughed, not loud enough to embarrass him but his half-baked attempt at romance was nothing short of "cute".

"Garrus, you're worrying too much. You don't need to do anything special, you amaze me enough as it is." She stroked his arm and gave him a comforting, almost sympathetic smile. He sighed and looked at the wine he had brought.

"I just think of C-Sec and Sidonis. These past two years have been dark time for me Shepard. I just want _something_ to go right. Just this once." She felt bad for him, he was trying so hard and here she was laughing at him.

Shepard pressed her forehead against his, and felt his hand graze her shoulder. She considered kissing him, but still hadn't figured out how. She looked into his blue eyes, small but filled with emotion. She raised a hand and brushed it against the scarred side of his face gingerly, moving her fingers back to touch his fringe. She wanted to take him and make him feel like he was okay, like he was good enough. Garrus closed his eyes and pulled her body against his own, letting out another soft sigh before speaking. "We can't do this, Shepard."

She froze, had he really just said that? She pushed away from him slowly, jaw agape in surprise. "I..." He raised a talon to her lips to hush her. "You've been nothing but a good friend to me, Shepard. Like I told you, there's nobody in this galaxy or the next that I respect as much as you." He paused and ran his hand down the side of her face. "Because of that, I just don't think I can be the one who...you know." Spirits damn his inability to articulate his feelings! He watched as her face contorted to a hurt grimace before she tried to hide that she was deeply offended by his rejection.

"I respect that Garrus, and I'm glad you said something instead of going through with this and regretting it." She moved away from him and stared into her fish tank, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. Shepard cared deeply for him, and right when she had hoped to prove her affection he backed out. It made her heart feel like it was in a tightened vice.

"I shouldn't stay...I'm sorry, I just didn't want to hurt you. Physically and emotionally." His joke fell completely flat, Shepard didn't even crack a fake smile.

"It's okay, I understand. I just need to think about it is all." She shrugged. Garrus put a hand on her shoulder and felt her stiffen from his touch. A signal that he needed to leave. Cautiously he exited her cabin. He had blown it, big time, just like he had been afraid too. At least if he died on the mission he wouldn't have to face the embarrassment of looking her in the eyes. When he left, Shepard let tears roll down her cheeks. If she had begun to cry while Garrus was still there, she knew he would have pitied her and reconsidered, but she didn't want him to be with her because he felt sorry. No, she wanted him to be with her because it was what he wanted, and if Garrus didn't feel for her the way she did for him, so be it.


	3. Chapter 3

_WOW I just want to start off by saying THANK YOU! I was totally surprised by how many faves/alerts this story got not even a full day after putting it up, it really, really encourages me to write more knowing people are actually reading it. I'm thinking of getting the readers to decide how it turns out in the end, if Shepard ends up with Thane or everyone's favourite Turian :3 Sooo even if you just want to drop a decision in the review area, feel free._

_Chapters may seem short, but I'm sort of writing in bursts._

The Collector base had been safely destroyed, and save for a few shallow bullet wounds and broken bones, her crew remained fully intact. Shepard felt good about that much, now she just needed to figure out how she was going to resolve her own personal problems. If Garrus didn't want to be with her, fine. She had proved to him that there was no hard feelings and that she still trusted him immensely by putting him in charge of the second fire team, but was finding it hard to talk to him otherwise.

"_I will wait for you."_

Thane's words echoed in her head. Maybe their relationship wouldn't be permanent by any means, but just for once in her life, a little romance couldn't hurt. She sat on the end of her bed and rested her face in her hands, an exasperated sigh escaping her lips. She may have a full crew of able-bodied individuals who would go to hell and back with her, but when it all boiled down, she was alone. She thought of Kaidan, who had sacrificed on Virmire for Ashley's sake, she thought of her life before the Alliance, a kid on the streets resorting to petty crime until she turned her life around. She had come so far, but had so little.

Of course, confronting Thane wouldn't be easy. He was a good man, but the thought of admitting her mistake made her gut twist in a most uncomfortable manner. 'He won't judge you, he hasn't got the right.' Her intuition told her, but there was still something pulling at the back of her mind. She gave her head a hard shake and left her quarters.

"Do you need something?"

"Yeah, actually. I need to talk to you." Shepard took the seat across from Thane, neatly folding her hands on her lap and looking at the Drell. God, he looked so amazing, the green tone of his skin highlighted just barely by the blue hue of the lights.

"Please, Shepard, my time is yours." He said politely, sitting up straight in his chair.

"I think I made a mistake, Thane." She said outright. He blinked, large, dark eyes studying the woman in front of him. "What do you mean?" He asked. Shepard took a deep breath, she internally convinced herself to keep her cool. "I don't think things between Garrus and I can work out. And...I...I still have feelings for you. I really do." Shepard didn't want to have to look at him, but she did. His face was extremely hard to read. "I don't want you to think you're some fall back plan." She continued, "I really care for you Thane, and I think making the mistake of not realizing that before was what it took." He wasn't saying anything, why wasn't he saying anything? Shepard wouldn't have blamed him for turning her away too.

"You?...That's-..." His eyes widened with what looked like excitement. "You needn't worry about apologizing, Shepard." He finally said. "To know you think me worthy of your affection is enough." His hands snaked across the table, and she raised her own hands from her lap to grasp them. His skin was cool to the touch, but smooth. "I admit, I've never been attracted to another species before...I'm not sure what to do now." Shepard gave his hand a small squeeze and smirked. "We'll figure it out."


End file.
